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The Unwelcome Visitor
Page One Riccianna :Riccianna’s eyelids opened slowly and she smiled to herself as the warm realisation came to her that she was once more at home in Beeston and in her own bed. She stretched herself for a moment before she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood in her own familiar surroundings. :Pushing open the shuttered window of her room she leaned out into the cool morning air and breathed Beeston deeply into her lungs. :”Ah……” ' she released a sigh of pleasure as she exhaled. After a few moments spent in idle wonder at the sounds of the Beeston morning, she turned and made herself ready for the day. Marco :There she was. He watched her from his hiding place. He’d waited every day for almost a week; he’d almost given her up but no, there she was… As she’d stood at the open window, brazen, he’d become darkly angered. :'How dare she!' he thought ’How dare she stand there like that, like she hadn’t a care?’ :A thin smile spread across his face. She would care soon enough. He turned his attention to the makeshift camp where he’d spent the past week and began hurriedly to clear away any sign of his presence. He should not need to stay there again, not after the reason for his long wait was taken care of. Riccianna :Breakfast consisted of a slice of bread spread thickly with home-made jam followed by water warmed on the fire and flavoured with scented leaves. Once the hunger was sated, Ricci pulled her cloak over her gown and gathered up her basket. She had a much-needed trip to make to the market; her provisions had grown low. :Singing softly to herself she stepped out of the house and onto the path that would lead to the town. Just as she did so she was startled by a sound from the edge of the garden, CRACK! the unmistakable sound of wood as it is snapped underfoot. :She stopped and stood for a moment, listening. She noted that the usual birdsong had become noticeable by its absence, a silence had fallen. Her eyes scanned the bushes as the sound came again quickly followed by the rustling of leaves. :Alerted, her senses heightened, she called ”Who’s there? Is someone there?” Nothing. But there was something; she could feel it. As the thought rushed into her head to run, to drop her basket and get away from there, so did a strong hand clamp across her mouth tightly. She tried to scream but it stifled against his palm. She could smell him; she knew him! Marco :Marco bristled with the power that surged through his veins as he felt Riccianna struggling in his hold. Quickly his other arm wove about her waist and as he yanked her roughly to him her basket dropped to the ground and tumbled some yards from them. :He growled into her ear ”Hello Ricci!” It gave him great pleasure as she tried again to scream against his hand. She was weak, pathetic in his grip, and he dragged her with ease back into the house. Ignoring her struggles he kicked the door shut behind them and threw Riccianna to the floor. His black eyes became blacker as he gazed down at her, the terrified look in her eye that he remembered so well serving only to feed his adrenalin. :He smiled his thin smile at her; a smile that did not reach his eyes as he said flatly ”So, this is where my wife has been hiding is it?” Riccianna :His words were a sneer, not a question. :”M..Marco..!” she stammered. :Her thoughts raced; finally he had come for her. All the months of hiding were over. She gasped aloud as he gripped her hair and pulled her up without ceremony and bundled her through the house and into the bedroom. Beseeching him as they went she cried ”Marco stop! Please stop! Marco!” :Her small hands went instinctively to the hand that tore so spitefully at her hair and she tried in vain to pull his hand away. At the bedroom he released his hold only to grab her by the throat; he squeezed. She felt herself lifted by the neck as he walked with her over to her bed. :Riccianna couldn’t breathe; her lungs were completely cut off by the cruel force of Marco’s large hand. She could feel the blood pounding in her head, her neck being stretched unnaturally. She felt her eyes would surely burst at any moment! She could barely recognise her own voice as the rasping strangled sound that emitted from her constricted throat. :Blackness was coming; blessed blackness.. she could feel herself losing consciousness and in her mind she begun to pray ’Oh mighty Jah my god, my saviour!’ Marco :His thoughts came in short bursts: he could break her like a twig, she was weak; she was nothing. He loathed her still. She had humiliated him and now she would pay. She had escaped him but would not again. :His hand continued to squeeze her slender neck, the fear in her bulging green eyes gave him a bitter-sweet pleasure and he remembered the joy she used to bring him; her fear had always brought him joy. It was only when the animal-like sounds came from her throat that he loosed his deadly grip. Her eyes rolled upward as he released her and he pushed her savagely down onto the bed. Through gritted teeth he spat ”Did you miss me Ricci dearest?” Riccianna :Riccianna drew great painful gasps of air. Her hands went to her throat as though it might help her to breath but did not. The air was so difficult to breathe; could it be the same air that she had enjoyed so deeply just an hour since? She looked wildly about the room searching for something, anything that might help her. She heard his voice saying ”Did you miss me Ricci dearest?” :Her eyes met the black that were his. They glittered and narrowed. She knew he wanted a response. Her breaths slowed and deepened as she watched his face. For a long moment neither spoke. Agatha :Agatha had stopped outside the door as she'd heard sounds from inside. Alarmed, she’d heard her mistress scream. She’d heard the evil in a voice that belonged to a man the mistress had called Marco. Agatha’s small body trembled. She could not leave her mistress with that man and yet she was so painfully aware of her own slight figure. What could she hope to do? She moved her ear away from the door and pushed the wood gently open just enough for her to slip through. She could feel her breathing getting shorter as she stood inside the kitchen. :”Did you miss me Ricci dearest?” Agatha's small frame quivered as Marco’s voice came to her from the bedroom. She felt as though every hair on her neck had stood at once at the sound of it. Her eyes darted about the kitchen and fell upon the axe partially hidden under the wood piled in the corner. She crept over to it and bent down. Slowly she eased it from under the wood until it was free and in her hands. Just the weight of it frightened her, and the thick blade looked dull. Against her young body the axe seemed huge. She jumped suddenly ’Was that a sob?’ It had come from her own mouth. Panicked, she flattened her back against the wall that lay between herself and the monster with her mistress, her little heart pounded. Riccianna :”Yes Marco, yes I missed you.” Ricci lied. It was what he wanted; he wanted her to plead with him. ”I missed you every day I.." her words were cut short by the stinging blow he brought about her face with his open hand. Her head spun as she tasted blood. She cried out."No..!" She pulled herself up on her elbows and edged up the bed away from him. Blood trickled from her swollen mouth as she coughed ”Please Marco don’t! I’ll come back with you, I will.” :It was odd that she was able to think at that moment but she did; she thought how she felt no pain in her mouth even though she knew she was hurt, and she thought how she longed to be free of him, that maybe death might be the only answer. But she knew he wouldn’t kill her, torture was his pleasure, not murder. Agatha :Agatha flinched when she heard the sound of the man’s hand on her mistress’ face. Her fingers tightened around the axe handle and, with a resolve far bigger than she was, she moved from the wall and toward the bedroom. Her heart pounded so loud that she could hear it in her head obliterating all other sound except for the voices coming from the bedroom; her mistress was pleading, telling him she would go with him. No no! Agatha could not bear the sound of Riccianna’s pleading. :She shook her head and took a deep breath as she entered through the bedroom doorway holding the heavy axe in front of her as though its appearance alone might save them. :Agatha saw first the back of the man Marco, then she saw Riccianna’s bloodied face and the shock of it brought a whimper from her lips. Marco :At the sound of someone in the room, Marco spun himself round to see a slight young girl standing in the doorway. Her brown hair fell in two plaits at her shoulders and her pale oval face showed a promise of beauty. She looked perhaps 13 years of age, 15 at best. Her brown eyes were wide with pure fear. :He looked quickly from her to the axe before he addressed her, ”What have we here?” his voice had taken on a teasing quality as he spoke to Agatha “..and what are you going to do with that pray tell?” he indicated the axe whose weight was making the girl stagger slightly. :Again he smiled his usual thin smile and his cruel black eyes narrowed. He would not be thwarted by a child. The girl’s mouth moved as though to answer but no sound came from her lips as Marco lunged at her and grabbed the axe from her. He spun it in his hand so that it was held blade-end down then he raised it over the cowering girl shouting ”You damned bitch! You want some pain? Do you? Eh, do you?” he sneered as the girl fell to her knees and covered her head with her bare arms. Riccianna :Riccianna held her breath for a moment when she saw Agatha in the doorway holding the axe. Her heart swelled with love and fear for the child that had come with intentions of saving her. But in the instant that Ricci saw her, Agatha had let out a cry that had alerted the madman that was her husband and he had turned his back on Ricci to deal with the problem. :Without hesitation Ricci reached to the side of her bed and pulled open the drawer of the small rough-hewn table that nestled there between her bed and the window. With fumbling fingers she felt about until they located and closed upon the handle of the small metal dagger that she always kept there. She’d been afraid for too long. It had to end. :As Marco raised the axe over Agatha, Ricci leapt from the bed and with a war-like scream she ran at him and plunged the dagger into the flesh near the top of his right shoulder. She felt the flesh give under the pressure and she buried the dagger up to its hilt. :”No Marco! No more!” she shouted. :She watched as his arms fell to his sides and the axe slipped from his hand and hit the floor noisily. Marco :He had felt the blade enter his flesh and was surprised at the power with which she had stabbed him. Marco turned to face his wife. His face stretched with shock. He was bleeding. He could feel the blood soaking his shirt and a panic began to rise in him. He reached over his shoulder to retrieve the blade but the movement caused him agony and he stifled a scream. :"Help me Ricci..?" he groaned. Riccianna :Wincing from the pain that had begun to throb in her bruised throat, Riccianna reached past him and picked up the axe. She dragged it back to the bed then went to help the trembling Agatha to her feet. :All the while she talked at Marco with a new strength, ”You have beaten and bullied me for the last time Marco De Scura. I have a witness now to what you have done to me and if you show yourself ever in Beeston again I will have you arrested! I mean to report you to the constable straight away and believe me they will be looking for you; every soldier at our borders will watch for you and you will go to prison if I have anything to do with it.” :Agatha had begun to cry softly and Ricci cradled her for a moment before she held her at arms length and said urgently “Aggie, go now and find someone, tell them what has happened and bring them here, go quickly!” she pushed the girl from her and watched as she ran on trembling legs past Marco as he stood weakened and bleeding before them, slumped in defeat. :Riccianna wiped her bloodied mouth on the sleeve of her gown and it stained crimson against the pale tan colouring of the material. :"You should leave Marco, while you still can." Marco :Marco listened as she spoke. She was right, he did need to leave; he needed to get to a doctor and he needed to get away before the constable or some have-a-go hero showed up. :He snarled at her ”You can’t do this Riccianna, I am your husband.” he turned from her and stumbled toward the door. :He reached his hand over his shoulder and with a final effort and a yelp of pain he pulled the dagger from the wound. The dagger dropped to the floor and blood spewed afresh from the gape in his flesh. :After one last look at her, he gathered his strength and staggered from the room leaving bloody footprints in his wake. Page Two Riccianna :Riccianna sat on the edge of her bed with her head bent, her bloody hands in her lap and her fingers entwined. She stared at the sticky blood; his blood, mixed with her own. With some difficulty, she swallowed. Her bruised neck was coming alive with pain. Running her tongue across the inside of her swollen bottom lip she felt the jagged tear there and tasted blood again as it seeped anew at the touch of her tongue. :Her gaze wandered across the floor and settled on the pool of blood that started off dark and thick, then became thinner and more brown as it trailed out of the door as gory footprints. : He was gone. Category:Histories